West Ham captain Declan Rice has branded criticism by Liverpool legend Graeme Sounes as "harsh".
Souness has dubbed the West Ham captain a limited player.
Rice, now with the England squad in Naples, responded on Wednesday night: "It's harsh because Souness doesn't watch West Ham every week.
"There's loads of West Ham fans, 60,000 go every week, they see what I do.
"But Souness was a player and when someone like him speaks, you have to sometimes listen and take on board where you can improve, if that's true.
"ou try not to let it affect you that much. I can take it on the chin quite well."